Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.

"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow," he said in the message entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace".

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."

Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.

He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the planet.

The Pope's message is traditionally sent to heads of government and international organisations.

His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.

A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change.

But there is also an intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon.

Such scientists point out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in its own right.

In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that was welcomed by environmentalists.

But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion.

In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius.

"The industrial-military complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless drastic solutions were enforced.

“”Drive oil prices up and put a “new value” on cheap commodities like wind, solar and corn.””

One of the problems that the new renewables industries are beginning to face is that high oil prices are limiting how fast they can implement renewables. the reality is that is takes a lot of oil to mine the ores and transport them to factories that build the “renewable” sources of energy. As the price of oil has skyrockets (from ~$20 per barrel in 1999 to ~$90 per barrel today) the cost to build windfarms, build solar facilities and grow the biofuels has also skyrocketted.

They need to realize that cheap oil makes it a lot easier to build their renewable energy infrastructure but...unfortunately, they have the cart before the horse.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement. . . . The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.

It is so refreshing to hear Benedict XVI speak out against the anti-human and unscientific environmentalist movement. Environmentalists expect everyone to accept all of their claims even though there isn't any real empirical evidence supporting them. Just because two things are happening at the same time, in this case a rise in carbon emissions and a rise in temperature, does not mean that one is the cause of the other. While there is some empirical evidence that suggests that the climate is getting slightly warmer--and I don't know how conclusive that evidence is--there is no empirical evidence that shows that carbon emissions are the cause of this increase. Environmentalists are just guessing that these emissions are causing global warming.

I would not be surprised at all if scientists one day discard the theory of global warming as having been nothing more than pseudo science like eugenics or phrenology.

It's always fun to cut away the reportage to see what the pope really said.

Here goes...

"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow,"

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."

"agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances"

"choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions"

Isn’t a world famous Nobel Peace Prize recipient, in the business of selling carbon credits while being lauded as the father of the biggest scam since y2k far far bigger than the father of the internet scam.

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

BRILLIANT!!!

CLAPCLAPCLAP

14
posted on 12/13/2007 6:27:24 AM PST
by FredHead47
(Donít cry for the elephant - while the girafee is on the grill)

Just because two things are happening at the same time, in this case a rise in carbon emissions and a rise in temperature, does not mean that one is the cause of the other.

Amen brother! Correlation is not causality...

While there is some empirical evidence that suggests that the climate is getting slightly warmer--and I don't know how conclusive that evidence is--there is no empirical evidence that shows that carbon emissions are the cause of this increase. Environmentalists are just guessing that these emissions are causing global warming.

If you havent seen Dennis Miller's latest standup special (All In)...check it out! He questions the accuracy of the temperatures recorded 100 years ago: "Excuse me for not trusting temperature figures from the year 1905. They're still sh***ing outside in the woods, but I'm supposed to believe they had a strangle hold on the Fahrenheit of the earth's magma. I'm sure that was an accurate reading."

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

Pope Benedict XVI is RIGHT on! The dubious ideology of Gore and his minions has sullied science. Gore has decided to believe what he believes regardless of facts. His approach is kind of like a pagan religion. Like other Marxists he wants an ideal world to behave in a manner he has predetermined. His "scientific" supporters have a vested interest (like their paychecks) in human caused global warming. Our R&D money could be better spent on science and understanding of the real causes of climate change, like the Sun.

I’ve always wondered, too, how accurate these old temperature records are. Furthermore, I think that 100 years is about as far back as those records go and that there are no records from earlier centuries. This current rise in temperature could very well be something that has occurred periodically in the past and is not something new that is occurring because of carbon emissions.

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